MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ford Motor becomes tops US sales ahead of GM and Toyota

Ford sales soared 43% during February

Ford Motor overtook rival General Motors in US sales on Tuesday as Toyota faltered amid a series of mass recalls and a congressional investigation into its safety standards. Toyota reported an 8.7% drop in February US sales to 100,027 vehicles, while the overall industry was expected to perform significantly better than depressed year-ago levels.

News of the drop in Toyota sales came as the Japanese auto giant's top executives faced a third grilling by US lawmakers as the number of US deaths blamed on defects in its vehicles rose to more than 50.

Critics have attacked Toyota for its sluggish response to complaints and accused it of covering up defects and incorrectly blaming accidents on floor mats or sticky pedals while ignoring possible electronic problems. Toyota - which has recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide - has said it will overhaul its quality-control measures and insists it has found a solution to the problems.

Ford appeared to have capitalised on Toyota's woes as its February US sales jumped 43% to 142,285 vehicles, placing the number-two US automaker squarely ahead of GM's 141,951 vehicles. It was the first time Ford had surpassed GM in monthly sales since the top US automaker's sales were hit by a strike at a key supplier in 1998.

Ford also trounced Toyota, which had overtaken Ford several years ago in annual US sales, and forecast its market share would jump three percentage points to about 17% amid higher demand for every brand and product category.

“The strength of our new products and Ford's leadership in quality, fuel efficiency, safety, smart design and value are resonating with customers,” said Ken Czubay, at Ford.

GM is in the process of discontinuing four brands - Saab, Hummer, Saturn and Pontiac.
When sales for these brands are excluded, those of its remaining core brands - Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac - rose 32.2% in February.

Susan Docherty, GM vice president for sales, service and marketing, said the firm's “solid” sales figures gave it a “a lot of confidence” that its efforts to revive its fortunes were continuing to gather speed.

However, earlier on Tuesday, GM announced that it was recalling 1.3 million small cars across North America because of a power steering problem that has been linked to 14 crashes.